Back from 1st Time South Africa

[owtdors]

If not for Jesse’s Hunting, and Freediver’s post, I’d still be baking in California’s Central Valley summer sun and dreaming of my first trip to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com

</st1lace>Africa and first guided hunt.
Looked into hunts with several outfitters but seeing the quality of Freediver’s animals caused me to look at Kei River Safari’s in the East Cape of South Africa.
I contacted Andrew Renton – owner of Kei River Safari’s.
I was hoping for a cancellation and ended up being the only one in camp as World Cup Soccer had most of the airline seats tied up. Andrew said he would personally serve as my PH.
Andrew answered all of my emails promptly and was a great help in getting me in contact with Custom Travel (in <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Wisconsin</st1:State></st1lace>) which provided me with specific info on airport maps, customs, immigration, gun permit, and packing list.
Told Andrew I was interested in 1. Kudu 2. Gemsbok (Oryx) 3. Blue Wildebeest 4. Impala and 5. Warthog in that order and asked him to quote me an all inclusive price.
With his answer, I told him I couldn’t find a reason not to go.
Booked a 7 day hunt with 2 days of travel (23 hours flying) on both ends. Andrew picked me up at the airport at 9PM and we were off to the lodge.

 

[owtdors]

Additional Photos

1. Gotcha follows blood and celebrates finding the impala.
He then proceeds to find and eat any ticks the animal has. Don't know if he is named for getting the animal or for his farts in the land cruiser.
2. Impala shot on day 2 while hunting for kudu on Renton property.
3. 4. Views of Renton Properties and Kei River. The river will run clear in September and Andrew is an avid fly fisherman.

 

[owtdors]

Continued

1. Saw many animals while hunting including baboons, vervet monkeys, meerkats, mongoose, hyrax, bushbuck, mountain reedbuck, nyala, blesbok, zebra, warthogs, duiker, springbuck, steenbuck, jackals (4 of them killed a bushbuck in the yard of the lodge) and this aardvark.
2. The indoor fireplace and BBQ was handy as it was cold at night in the dead of their winter - There was frost and ice when we traveled 3 hours northwest to the grassland (high veld) at 4500 ft for the gemsbok.
Note - the rear parts of the hide don't go to waste as they are used for carpeting.
3. The food was outstanding - heres a pic of chicken, pork and lamb in one meal. Enjoyed dinner chats with Andrew, his wife Sharon, and with their 2 children on non-school nights.
4. My room was cold at night but I was cozy as I followed the packing instructions for sweat clothes to sleep in.

 

[owtdors]

Continued

1. Blue wildebeest on the hoof.
2.3. My blue wildebeest bull. One tough customer, but one dose of tripleshok did the job.
Honestly - Blue wildebeest is the best steak I have ever had!
Hunted private property for warthog in the late afternoon. The property owner reported he looked like a small rhino.
We caught up with several of his females and watched for him until dark, but he never showed.
We saw warthogs every day and all day but not the right one!

 

[owtdors]

1. Up at 4AM and traveled for 3 hours. Watched group of gemsbok feeding for about 40 minutes, determined the largest one, but Andrew thought we might do better. After they moved off we second guessed ourselves and decided to follow. We went back around two hillsides to stay out of view and belly crawled into position. We took close to 2 hours of watching to confirm the biggest bull and get a clear shot at 300 yards. I aimed high on the shoulder and thats exactly where I hit, too high and off he went at full tilt. After a few expletives we ran over two ridges and found him. As soon as he saw us he took off quartering away and I took the only shot I had before he went behind some rocks. Andrew thought it sounded like a hit, but we were not sure.
We went over another ridge and we could not see him. After a few more of my expletives Andrew got a big smile and pointed to him lying in the rocks and congratulated me on my gemsbok.

2. Turns out the second shot entered the gut in front of the hips and continued into the vitals. Its nice to be lucky!!!

3. The grassland (high veld) looks exactly like parts of many western states.

 

[owtdors]

Last Chapter

1. Spent day 5 back at Rentons property for Kudu and saw animals all day but Andrew felt we could do better.
Day 6-Traveled almost 2 hours southeast from the lodge in the direction of the Karoo (desert biome).
The vegetation was full of succulents and very thick, but full of Kudu.
The wind direction forced us away from one of Andrew's favorite spots in the mountains and we were forced to hunt the flats. We caught glimpses of kudu all day.
Right before dark Andrew spotted a monster bull. I got set up and had the bull in my scope for a split second at 400 yards but kudu cows, vegetation, and the distance kept me from shooting. One lucky bull!
2. On day 7 we drove back again to the same place but tried the mountain lookout. Found 4 bulls right away at close range, but not the right ones. Watched a group of endangered bat eared foxes.
Moved back to the flats for the afternoon. Finally right at sunset Andrew spotted another bull that took off running as soon as we saw him. I got the orders to shoot and I broke his back leg. After some tense moments and another shot he was down for the count.

Andrew wanted to hunt the morning of Day 8 for warthog, but I wanted to make sure I took care of packing, financial matters, a few more pictures and make sure I got to the airport for my noon flight. He offered to return cash for the warthog but I would have none of it. The trip more than met my expectations.
I have to say I was very impressed with the dawn till dusk (and beyond) efforts of Andrew and Sootoo (our tracker- my spelling). Sootoo did a fantastic job glassing, and on the capes. Andrew took great pains with the field photos (sorry these are so small), selection of mature animals, and I really enjoyed the travel to four different biomes (life zones).
Couldn't have asked for a better first trip - thanks to Jesse's and Freediver!

 

[Bulleye]

WOW what an awesome trip! Congrats

 

[Shmave23]

That is AWSOME!!!!!!!!! That is my dream hunt rayin :AFRICArayin :!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing glad you had a blast!!!!!!:bounce-aqua:

-Dave

 

[CharlesL]

Congratulations on great trophies and I wonderful trip. Have you planned your next trip yet?

 

[catchdog]

good deal, and great pics. I will be there sep 3

 

[owtdors]

Catchdog,

Did you decide if you were going to take your own gun? I did take mine and the case got beat up but the gun was fine. I had read on the web that it could take up to 4 hours to get gun through customs in Johannesburg . I had a 2 1/2 hour lay over and was worried I would not make my flight so I paid a rep from AFTON House in JHB to meet me and walk me through and it took considerably less than an hour. On the way home it was a a piece of cake. Of interest is that when you go from JHB to East London, you can have your ammo in your clothes luggage bag. When you go from East London to JHB they want ammo in a separate locked box all by itself.
I did have to resight my gun in when I got there. I don't know if it was the cold temps in baggage or the banging around.
Have to admit it was strange to walk into the international airport in Fresno with my rifle to get my customs form. People looked me kind of strange but the officials didn't think anything about it.
Best of luck to you with your travels - I'm sure you will have a great time and we will look forward to the pics.

 

[catchdog]

owtdors,
No I will rent one there. Happy to see you had a great hunt.Good to hear you didnt have much trouble with your gun.Me and my wife are going next year I think we will take are guns then. She shoots a youth model gun cuz shes real small. So I want her to have a gun that fits her well and wont beat her up. She shoots a Rem model 7 in 7mm08. light recoil and with a 140 GR tsx it will do the job. She shot a 250 lb bear in Idaho and put a perfect shot on it. Bear only went 15 or 20 yds.

 

[Bushwack]

Very nice trophies.:thumbs up2:



Patrick

 

[Freedivr2]

owtdors..........glad to hear you hooked up with Kei Rivers. It was all that I said it was and more wasn't it???? That was also my first time in Africa. You got some quality animals, congrats!!!!!!!! Glad to hear that my posting caught your eye enough to get your interest. Andrew and Sharon sure are good people, aren't they? (even if they do talk kinda funny, lol!). I could go back there tomorrow (if I had the coins). BTW, my horns and hides should be in the air right now and in LAX by Monday. 5 months to get here if you were wondering. They sat with the shipper in a crate for a month. Hope there's not too much hair slippage on the capes, we'll see.........I hear it's not uncommon. Glad to hear you had a good time. Wonder if you ate the Wildebeest that I shot in May? I know the meat was in the Rentons freezer. Take care, Myke

 

[owtdors]

Freedivr2...
Great to hear from you and glad to be able to thank you "personally" for taking the time to post your pics and information. Without your efforts and Jesse's forum, I absolutely would not have pulled the trigger on this trip. Seeing the quality of your animals made all the difference in getting up the motivation to get to Africa while the prices are relatively reasonable. Hope these pics bring back some recent memories of a great trip. Can't say enough about Andrew, the accommodations, and how well things went for a first trip. That very well could have been your wildebeest steak I had. I assumed it was fresh from mine but you never know- At any rate, it was the best steak I have ever had. Hope your trophies get home in good shape. My capes and horns went dipped and packed to the shipper in mid-September. They still say they are waiting for the final permit from the Dept of Conservation and then they will be shipped to LA.
Best Wishes and Thanks Again!!!!
Craig